The entrance of the Sanctuary was twenty amot high and ten amot wide. It had four doors, two on the inside [of the entrance], and two on the outside, as it says, "There were two doors to the Sanctuary and to the Holy of Holies" (Ezekiel 41:23) The outer ones [doors] open into the opening [of the entrance] to cover the walls, while the inner ones open into the Sanctuary as to cover the behind the doors, for the entire Sanctuary was covered with gold, except for behind the doors. Rabbi Yehuda says, [the doors] were placed in the middle of the entrance way, and looked like folding doors, these [the outer doors] cover two and a half amot and these [the inner doors] cover two and a half amot, [leaving] half an amah and a doorpost at one end, and half an amah and a doorpost at the other end, as it says, There were two doors for [each] door, two swinging doors, two for one door, and two for the other." (Ezekiel 41:24)

The great gate had two small doorways, one on the north, and one on the south. No person ever entered from the southern doorway, and the reason was spelled out by Ezekiel, as it says "And Hashem said unto me: 'This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it, for Hashem, the God of Israel, will come through it, it shall be shut."' (Ezekiel 44:2) He [the Kohen] took the key and opened the small door, and he entered the cell, and from the cell, he entered into the Sanctuary. Rabbi Yehuda says, he would walk along in the thickness of the wall, until he found himself standing between the two doors [to the space between the two gates]. He opened the outer doors from the inside, and the inner doors from the outside.

There were thirty-eight cells [within the walls of the Sanctuary], fifteen in the north, fifteen in the south, and eight in the west. On the north and on the south, [there were three levels] five cells [built] on top of five cells and five more on top of them. In the west there were three [cells were built] on top of three and two on top of them. Each cell had three openings; one to the cell on the right, one to the cell on the left, and one to the cell on top. [to the cell] in the northeastern corner there was five openings: one to the cell on the right, one to the cell above it, one to the Mesibah [a winding ramp within the walls of the Sanctuary], one to the small doorway, and one to the Sanctuary.

The [cell] on the bottom [row] were five amot wide and [they formed] a ledge six amot wide, and the middle [cells formed] a ledge of seven amot and the [cells] on top [were] seven [amot wide], as it says , "The lowest cell was five amot wide, and the middle was six amot wide, and the third was seven amot wide." (I Kings 6:6)

The Winding Ramp rose from the northeast corner to the northwest corner, by which they used to go up to the roofs of the cells. He would go up the Winding Ramp facing west and traverse the entire northern [side of the building], until reaching the west [side of the building]. When he reached the west, he turned to face south, and then traversed the west side until reaching the south. When he reached the south, he turned to face the east, and he then traversed the south side, until he reached the opening of the upper story, for the door of the upper story opened to the south. In the opening of the upper story, there were two poles of cedar, which they used to climb to the roof of the upper story. The ends of the beams divided the upper story between [the area above] the Holy [part] and the Holy of Holies . There were shafts open in the upper story into the Holy of Holies by which artisans were lowered down in boxes, so that their eyes should not gain pleasure of the Holy of Holies.

The Sanctuary was a hundred [amot] by a hundred [amot] with a height of a hundred [amot]: The base was six amot, and the height [of the lowest story of the Sanctuary reached an height of] forty amot, one amah for its ornamentation, two amot for the supporting [beams], one amah for the ceiling, and one amah for the pavement. The height of the upper chamber was forty amot, one amah for its ornamentation, two amot for its supporting [beams], one amah for the ceiling, and one amah for the pavement. Three amot [were taken up by the] fence [around the roof], and an amah for the raven-chaser [spikes]. Rabbi Yehuda says, the spikes were not included in the measurement; rather, the fence was four amot.

From east to west [the Sanctuary was] one hundred [amot] by one hundred [amot]: The [eastern wall of the] vestibule was five [amot thick]; the vestibule was eleven [amot wide]; the [eastern] wall of the Sanctuary was six [amot thick] and its interior was forty [amot long]; one amah for the [place of] the partition between the Holy of Holies and the Sanctuary; and twenty amot was the Holy of Holies. The [western] wall of the Sanctuary was six [amot thick]; the cell [in back of it] was six [amot wide]; and the [outer] wall of the cell was five [amot thick]. From north to south the Sanctuary was seventy amot. The wall of the Winding Ramp was five [amot thick] and the Winding Ramp [itself] was three [amot wide]; the wall of the cell was five [amot thick] and the cell was five [amot wide]. The [southern] wall of the Sanctuary was six [amot thick]; the cell was six [amot wide] and the wall of the cell was five [amot thick]. The [place known as] the House of Lowering the Water was three [amot wide] and its wall was five [amot thick]. The vestibule was longer than it [the Sanctuary] fifteen amot to the north, and fifteen amot to the south. This [longer section] was called the Chamber of the Knives [for that is where] that the knives were stored. The Sanctuary was narrow in the back [the eastern side] and wide at the front [the eastern side], like a lion, as it says, "Ah, Ariel [lit. Lion of God] Ariel, the city where David encamped." (Isaiah 29:1) Just as a lion is narrow in his back and wide in front, so too was the Sanctuary narrow in the back and wide in the front.